MY NAME IS YUL BRYNNER AND I AM A FAMOUS MOVIE STAR

The second solo single released by Stephen Malkmus after the break-up of Pavement is brilliantly bonkers.

It opens up with spoken dialogue from Yul Brynner, which I assume has been lifted from a media interview, over a slow piano.  After 35 seconds it explodes into the sort of song you’d have expected to hear from his old band.  Indie pop/rock at its finest with the catchy non-chorus of ‘ayeeeeey-yee’ (or something similar) while the versus veer all over the place.

Then, just as the tune really gets motoring along, threatening to become absolutely tailor-made for radio, it completely changes tempo and rhythm at the two-and-a-half minute mark, not only putting off any previously interested daytime producers, but making it night on impossible to dance to at the indie-disco without making a dick out of yourself….before reverting again to the ‘ayeeeeey-yee’ before ending with some barely audible half-spoken surreal lines from Malkmus:-

Bob Dylan sang in
“Its alright mama I’m only bleeding”,
Everything from toy guns that spark to flesh colored Christs
that glow in the dark
Its easy to see we got in too far and not much is really sacred.

mp3: Stephen Malkmus – Jo Jo’s Jacket

I’ve no idea where Yul Brynner fits in, nor why the song was given the title of Jo Jo’s Jacket

Here’s yer lo-fi b-side:-

mp3: Stephen Malkmus – Open and Shut Cases

The single sold enough copies to enter the charts at #88 in December 2001.

JC